NY cops hunt killer of imam and as­sis­tant

A New York neigh­bour­hood is on edge as it strug­gles to pin­point the mo­tives be­hind a gun­man’s fa­tal day­time at­tack on an imam and his as­sis­tant near their mosque. Imam Maulama Akon­jee, 55, and his as­sis­tant, 64-year-old Thara Ud­din, were shot at point-blank range just be­fore 2pm on Au­gust 13 in the Ozone Park neigh­bour­hood in the bor­ough of Queens, po­lice said. The mo­tive is un­known and no ar­rests have been made. “There is noth­ing in the pre­lim­i­nary in­ves­ti­ga­tion to in­di­cate that they were tar­geted be­cause of their faith,” po­lice told jour­nal­ists.